A study by Irish start-up CUSP into the volumes of single-use plastic packaging waste generated across Limerick City & County has identified hotspots in terms of volumes, which if given priority would see significant reductions in the amounts generated in the county each year.
Limerick households generate a combined 11,600 tonnes of single-use plastic packaging waste annually. That’s enough single-use plastic waste to fill 258 Olympic size swimming pools.
CUSP(CeaseUsingSingle-UsePlastic) was established in 2018 to develop solutions to this burgeoning crises.” Our research found consumers are put-off trying to reduce their single-use plastic waste by the continuous reporting of the crises in the ‘millions of tonnes’,” according to CUSP founder Simon Ruddy. “This leaves people wondering ‘what’s the point trying to reduce… my small contribution is hardly going to make any difference”.
CUSPtakes the big global numbers on single-use plastic waste, the ‘millions of tonnes’ we read about frequently and distils these numbers down into smaller bite-sized reduction targets community groups and households can more easily relate to; all delivered via CUSP’s user-friendly, free mobile app.
Dooradoyle has the biggest mountain to climb at 952 tonnes annually, with Ballysimon coming in second at 809 tonnes. Beyond Limerick City Newcastle West and Abbeyfeale have a little work to do also at 394 and 120 tonnes per annum respectively.
The table provided lists volumes for 16 Limerick towns and city districts, which cumulatively accounts for 36% of the counties annual single-use plastic waste pile. Also listed are reduction targets aligned to the key UN sustainability goal for the elimination of all non-essential single-use plastic packaging by 2030, estimated at 70% of current global consumption.
| Limerick: Single-Use Plastic Hotspots | ||
| Town/Region | Current Annual Volume (tonnes) | Annual Reduction Target(tonnes) – UN Aligned |
| Dooradoyle | 952 | 67 |
| Ballysimon | 809 | 57 |
| Raheen | 633 | 44 |
| Newcastle West | 394 | 28 |
| Annacotty | 276 | 19 |
| Castletroy | 231 | 16 |
| Castleconnell | 125 | 9 |
| Abbeyfeale | 120 | 8 |
| Kilmallock | 100 | 7 |
| Roxborough | 95 | 6.8 |
| Rathkeale | 86 | 6 |
| Cappamore | 84 | 5.8 |
| Murroe | 82 | 5.7 |
| Askeaton | 68 | 4.7 |
| Adare | 67 | 4.6 |
| Foynes | 55 | 3.8 |
To achieve 70% reductions by 2030 Limerick needs to reduce single-use plastic waste from its current 11,600 tonnes annually to 3,500 tonnes annually by 2030, requiring an average annual reduction of 810 tonnes.
“In order to achieve this” Simon continued “CUSP is asking Limerick householders to reduce by just 1kg each month, from a current monthly average of 14kgs per household. Simply identify your 1kg monthly reduction using the free CUSP app and repeat that same 1kgs reduction each month for 12 months; then repeat the process with a further 1kg reduction for the next 12 months and so on, each year through 2030”!
1kg is equivalent in weight to 18 empty 2ltr single-use plastic drinks bottles for example.
“Plastic drinks bottles are just one option of course’ Simon went on to say. ‘With single-use plastic packaging ubiquitous across every category of consumer goods, participants have multiple options when planning their 1kg reduction. When testing the app in my own home last year we found our initial 1kg reduction by swapping-out plastic egg trays and plastic orange juice bottles”
The maths is simple: 1kg monthly reduction per household equals 12kgs annually, multiplied by 70,000 households across Limerick City and County gives you 840 tonnes!
Why not start today! The CUSP app is free to download for both android and iOS devices, simply search ‘CUSP: Single-Use Plastic Calc’.
“Participants simply tap-in their estimated monthly number-of-units for 22 of the more common items of single-use plastic packaging found in Irish homes listed in the app; Then, after 30 days and following CUSP ‘hints & tips for reducing’, participants tap-in their new reduced volume to see if they’ve hit that 1kg monthly reduction target!
“All calculations and conversions-to-kilograms are done automatically for you”.
CUSP piloted the app with 200 users in the Connaught region during February and March 2020, with participating households achieving average monthly reductions of 2.5kgs, more the twice the 1kg reduction required to hit 2030 targets!
“If these reductions were replicated in Limerick, we would hit 2030 reduction targets by 2026” Simon concluded.
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